Prof. Snead Attends Council of Europe Meeting

This summer, Notre Dame Law Professor Carter Snead participated in the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Bioethics (CDBI) in Strasbourg, France. The committee held discussions regarding:

Development of a future instrument on the role of predictive genetic testing and health insurance, and prenatal genetic testing; the elaboration of a guide for research ethics committee members in member states; a draft recommendation on the Monitoring and Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of Persons with Mental Disorders; a draft recommendation on the Impact of Genetics on the Organization of Health Care Services and Training of Health Professionals; and legislative developments within member states regarding human cloning and its possible application to Article 18.2 of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine.

Snead’s scholarship explores the possibility, mechanisms, and wisdom of the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology according to ethical principles.

In 2002 Snead accepted the position of general counsel for the President’s Council on Bioethics. In that capacity, he advised the chairman and council members on the legal and public policy dimensions of numerous ethical questions arising from advances in biomedical science and biotechnology. He was the principal drafter of the council’s 2004 report, “Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies,” a comprehensive critical assessment of the governance (both public and private) of the activities at the intersection of assisted reproduction, human embryo research, and genetics. Snead continues to serve the council as an expert consultant.

In 2007, Snead was appointed (along with Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, Chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics) to be the Permanent Observer for the U.S. Government at the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Bioethics (CDBI). In that capacity, he assists the CDBI in its efforts to elaborate international instruments and standards for the ethical governance of science and medicine.

In 2008, the director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) appointed Snead to a four-year term as one of 36 independent experts on UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC). The committee is the only forum in the United Nations system devoted to reflection on bioethics and public policy.